More than 2,000 British petrol stations remained closed on Thursday due to a truck driver shortage, which was beginning to disrupt deliveries to pharmacies, while farmers warned that a lack of butchers could lead to a massive pig cull.

In a chaotic week that saw fights break out at gas stations and people filling up old water bottles with petrol, British Ministers have repeatedly stated that the crisis is easing, even though they ordered soldiers to start driving fuel tankers yesterday.

Ministers have rejected claims that the trucker shortage was caused by Britain's exit from the European Union, pointing to similar shortages elsewhere as a result of Covid-19 lockdowns that halted thousands of truck driver tests.

However, the Petrol Retailers Association said 27 percent of stations had run dry -- the same number as on Wednesday.

On his part, Association Chief Gordon Balmer said "PRA members are reporting that whilst they are continuing to take further deliveries of fuel, this is running out quicker than usual due to unprecedented demand".

Thursday, Reuters reporters visited ten gas stations in London and the surrounding areas. Three doors were open. A long line of drivers snaked back from one of the open stations, with staff attempting to direct the traffic.

"The whole supply chain has been impacted from inbound wholesale depot supply down to outward depot deliveries to pharmacies," said a spokeswoman for the association which represents large pharmacy operators.

Fears for pig cull

Aside from fuel and medicine, the farming industry has warned that unless the government issues visas to allow more butchers into the country, hundreds of thousands of pigs may have to be slaughtered within weeks.

According to data from the Transport Ministry, motor traffic fell by 6 percentage points on Monday compared to the previous week, reaching its lowest level on a non-holiday Monday since July 12. On July 19, England lifted Covid restrictions.

The disruption, as well as the price rises it is expected to cause, threatens to undermine Britain's economic growth, which is expected to be 7% this year.

Meanwhile, data released today by the Office for National Statistics showed that the economy grew faster than previously thought in the April-June period before what appeared to be a sharp slowdown more recently as post-lockdown bottlenecks, such as a truck driver shortage, mounted.

Fuel crisis 

The petrol station crisis has sparked outrage in some European capitals, with senior politicians claiming that Britain's trucker shortage was a direct result of the country's decision to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum.

Despite the fact that tens of thousands of EU truckers fled during the Brexit debacle, British ministers have denied this.

Covid-19 and Britain's post-Brexit immigration policy, which has restricted the flow of eastern European workers, have exacerbated an acute shortage of butchers and slaughterers in the meat processing industry.

On her account, Policy Services Officer at the National Pig Association (NPA) Lizzie Wilson said that the shortage of butchers means processors are operating at 25% capacity.

"There are about 120,000 pigs sat on-farm currently that should have already been slaughtered, butchered, be within the food chain, and eaten by now," she added.